


You Don't Need Eyes to See the Truth

by GalaxyKitty



Series: Danti Cuteness [12]
Category: Danti - Fandom
Genre: Anti gets hurt again, Anti went off by himself again, Comfort, Cuddles, Cute, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles, Snow Blindness, all the egos, but only for anti, doting, he just needs more hugs, oh my gosh dark is such a softieee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 10:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17548154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyKitty/pseuds/GalaxyKitty
Summary: "Anti somehow ends up feeling like he doesn't belong with either group of egos (Maybe he got yelled at while at the Septic house, went to the 'Iplier house seeking refuge, then got yelled at there for something too). So, not feeling like he has a place there, he runs away. It's winter and with nowhere to go he is stuck out in the elements. By the time Dark and the others find Anti he is nearly frozen and suffering from snow blindness. Then, Dark and the others have to nurse him back to health, all the while regaining the trust they'd lost when Anti had first run away. While doing so there will be plenty of cuddles and reassurances that he is wanted and, eventually, as he heals, Anti will realize that his family truly does care for him and nothing will change that."-Mozarts Fantasy"do you think you could maybe write something where (for whatever reason) Anti feels really excluded from both ego groups and he tries to fix things but it just makes things worse and he gets really depressed and... Oh heck there goes my creativity...I don't know where it goes from there. (End with fluff if possible :P)"-MedusaDoggoA double oneshot from two wonderful requests :3





	You Don't Need Eyes to See the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> It's a double request meaning these two requests were similar so I combined them into one story, and in addition, I made sure to give it more words to equal that of two requests, but seeing as my minimum word count for a request is 1000, this request only needed to be at least 2000 and instead it is over 6000 and is now the longest request so far xD 
> 
> Part of the reason it took so long was because I wasn't sure how to write this one; I kind of feel that way about all of them, seeing as I can't read your minds and don't know what you're thinking of when you request, but these are also free and I do my best so hopefully you guys like it too! :3

Anti sighed as he walked into Dark’s room, sitting on the bed with a hum. The older ego wasn’t there yet, most likely still working in his office, so Anti sat patiently and waited. The past few days weren’t the greatest, but that was alright, everyone had bad days once in a while. That’s what he told himself, anyway. But Dark would be here soon and Dark always knew what to do. He was never one to admit it, but sometimes Anti appreciated softer moments, warm embraces, quiet nights… Sometimes he just needs a hug.

He heard the door open and perked up, watching as the older being stepped inside the room, though he looked to be preoccupied with something else.

“Hey, Darky.” He said, head tilted to the side as he tried to figure out what Dark was doing.

“Ah, Anti.” The older being hummed as he noticed the other. “I have a job I need to get to. I’ll be leaving with Wilford in a few minutes.”

“Oh.” The younger frowned.

This wasn’t unusual; they’ve all had jobs that required them to leave, sometimes for a few days, and Anti was used to this. Today just happened to be an unlucky day for it.

“Alright.” Anti replied, trying to hide the slight pang of sadness in it.

Dark seemed to have noticed, or at least was a little suspicious, but Anti managed to cover it with his usual jokes. The older being flipped through some papers and grabbed a few things, occasionally mentioning something about the job. He told the younger that he wasn’t sure how long it would take but he would have his phone if something were to happen. Anti nodded, knowing this was normal, and watched as the older left. Dark wasn’t one for sentiments, this is how he usually acted, this is what he has done during other jobs when he had to leave, but the younger being still felt himself feel down about it. It would’ve been nice if Dark did… something.

He frowned at himself, knowing this was a silly thought. It wasn’t like him to act like this. Even so, he sighed as he lied down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling for a while. The light was still on, causing him to squint, and he summoned one of his throwing knives to hurl at the light switch, smiling a little as the room went dark. He turned to his side, staring at the spot on the bed where Dark would’ve been resting, and reached out to grab the pillow there. He hugged it, face pressed into the cushion, and closed his eyes as he tried to get himself to fall asleep.

 

He woke up the next morning with a grunt, the flashes of an odd dream leaving his mind as he sat up. He still wasn’t feeling himself today but hoped he could take his mind off of it by doing something… anything really.

He was sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen by himself when he heard the distant voices of others approaching. He turned his head in time to see Google and Bing walking into view, the younger android talking brightly.

“-cause it was like the weirdest dream, dude, or at least I think it was like a dream? Ya know these things are always weird to explain.” The android was explaining but stopped when he caught sight of Anti.

It was oddly quiet for a moment as the two androids stood still while the glitchy ego watched in confusion.

“Uh…” Bing started, eyes looking around the room slowly. “Isn’t… Dark gonna be away for like… a while or something?”

“…yeah?” Anti said just as oddly as the other, narrowing his eyes.

“Ah… o…kay.”

The green-haired being frowned a bit before turning around to face the plate of food he had on the counter and continued to eat. He heard the other two talking in a hushed voice, not sure whether or not it was because he was around, but he focused more on Bing’s question.

Was it really that strange to see him at the Iplier Manor without Dark around? Did… they not want to see him around at all? Did that make him unwelcome at the manor without Dark?

Anti frowned and shook his head, telling himself he needed to stop thinking things like that. He’s already feeling down today, he doesn’t need to pile that feeling up. Maybe he could do something to help the other Ipliers though? It might be nice to have the others see him more as a friend rather than just Dark’s partner. He was a little saddened when he remembered Wilford had gone with Dark as well, as Wil was the only other Iplier he got along with well.

He might as well try, though, right?

So he stayed at the manor, not really seeking out attention, but he would listen in to whatever was happening in the living room or kitchen. It wasn’t really eavesdropping, he was out in the open and they would talk aloud; they knew he was there anyway. Then he found a chance to do something when a group was sitting in the living room complaining at the t.v. for showing a “no signal” symbol on the screen.

“Aw no, my show is gonna be on soon.” Bing pouted, sitting on the carpet with a frown.

“And aren’t you good with technical stuff like this?” Dr. Iplier asked, sitting on the couch.

Host was sitting on the carpet in front of him, back leaning against the back of the couch as Edward was fixing his hair so it wasn’t messy, seeing as he couldn’t really do that by himself.

“I don’t know, Googs is better at this stuff than I am, but he’s busy.”

Anti glitched over to the room, surprising the others with his sudden appearance, and he sat on the floor in front of the cable box and t.v. as he looked up at the screen.

“I’ve had to fix stuff like this before at my place.” He mumbled as he put his hand on the cable box and watched the screen flicker.

“Oh? You know what’s wrong with it?” Edward asked.

“Well, this stuff ain’t my specialty, but it’s better than Marv tryin’ to use some spell to fix it.” He replied, waiting a few moments before humming. “Good news, the cable box is, in fact, turned on.”

“Ah, well that’s good.” The doctor huffed with a smile.

A few more moments and Anti thought he figured out what the problem was, smiling a little to himself, then there was a spark. His smile left and he mumbled to himself before there was another spark that caused him to flinch and bring his hand back to his chest. They all heard a sudden snapping sound and the t.v. turned black. They stared at the screen, wondering what had happened, then Host spoke up.

“The cable box broke.”

“Oh.”

“Aww, but my shooow.” Bing whined.

“Well that’s not what I was expecting.” Edward chuckled softly, hands still brushing out Host’s hair. “I’m sure you can watch it on your laptop.” He added for Bing, seemingly not phased with what happened.

“But the big screeen.” The android whined more.

“You can plug it into the t.v.”

“But what if my laptop breaks too!”

Anti stopped paying attention to their conversation after that, sighing to himself before glitching away back to Dark’s room. He wanted to help, to prove that he could do something useful for them, even if it was as minute as fixing a cable box, but that obviously would be counted as a fail. He decided to distract himself from it for a bit, telling himself he could go back down later, but for now he looked around the room for something to do. Dark kept his room fairly neat, so there wasn’t much to clean up or organize, but he did manage to waste some time making the blanket on the bed look as flat as possible without a single wrinkle in the cloth.

He eventually did leave the room when it was time for dinner, seeing most of the egos down in the kitchen or sitting at the breakfast bar. He glitched over to the bar, sitting at the edge with his feet dangling off the end, and caught a few of the egos off guard with his appearance once more.

“Ah, Anti, are you having dinner here?” The doctor asked, turning his head from the stove to ask him.

“Yes.” Host answered for him.

Anti looked over at Host at that, not sure what to say now, but when the doctor looked at him for confirmation, he shrugged and nodded yes.

He was always curious about Host; he didn’t know too much about the ego since he wasn’t a Septic ego and Dark never went into much detail whenever he asked about it. He gathered that Host _knew_ things, sometimes before it happened, but he didn’t think the ego had much control over when or what he learned.

“Then ya wouldn’t mind helpin’ out.” Bim called over to him, sliding a board with vegetables on it towards him.

Anti looked down at the vegetables, watching them roll a bit from the unsteady movement of the board, and pursed his lips. He usually wasn’t one for cooking, generally only using the kitchen to make something for himself if the others were busy, but maybe this could make up for the cable box. Besides, Wil had dragged him into baking cupcakes before, though that was a lot different than making an actual meal and neither of them were really following any type of recipe at the time. It was more of a “let’s see how much we can get away with” type of baking.

He summoned one of his knives, turning around on the counter to sit cross-legged and facing the vegetables, and started cutting. Bim didn’t specify how he wanted them, so he just watched as the vegetables were cut into little odd shapes, wondering how strange he could get the pieces to look with each movement of the knife. He did glance up during it to see some of the other egos eyeing him in what looked like confusion, maybe curiosity, especially the Jims, and he looked away to try to avoid their gaze.

The thought returned, wondering if it really was that odd to see him here at the manor without Dark.

He finished cutting everything and pushed the board back over towards Bim, then took out his phone from his back pocket to give him a moment to think without looking like he was doing nothing. The other egos were all talking to one another, subjects changing between the meal they were making to what they did today that was interesting to something that happened last week. Anti scrolled between tabs on his phone, not really paying attention to the screen, and listened in. He didn’t really have anything to say, not knowing if any of them were even expecting him to say something anyway. He was just… there.

He realized that he _did_ feel a bit out of place at the manor without the older ego. Most of the time he would have returned to his own place with the other Septic egos, not really having a second thought. There have been times when he’s been at the Manor without Dark, he remembers, but most of the time Wil was with him and always made him feel welcome. He would include the green-haired ego to join their group or invite him to the conversations, always making sure he was okay. Anti never realized that until now.

He… really wasn’t feeling too great right now.

There was a crackle and he snapped his head up, seeing the microwave and oven lights flash with sparks he recognized as his own energy. He winced, hoping no one knew what had caused it, but the eyes of the others were all on him, telling him otherwise.

He turned around so his legs could hang off the edge of the counter again, back towards most of the others and he stared at his phone with a tight grip. Thankfully no one asked about it and they all returned to what they were doing in the kitchen. Honestly, Anti wasn’t too sure he’d even know how to explain it either. His emotions sometimes got in the way of his control over his abilities, which he hated, but it was always hard to tell what exactly was wrong.

He wanted to leave, his mind telling him it would be better if he was alone, but he argued with himself that he should at least stay for dinner. They were making an extra plate for him anyway.

Maybe tomorrow would be better.

 

Anti woke up on Dark’s side of the bed, eyes staring blankly at the wall in front of him. He ended up staying at the manor, though he didn’t feel any better. Dinner last night wasn’t eventful, but the green-haired being didn’t really talk with anyone and he felt out of place.

He stayed in bed for a while until his mind finally convinced him that coffee would be a good idea, but as he looked over at the door to the rest of the manor, he knew he didn’t want to face any of the Ipliers today. With that, he glitched over to his own home. He looked around the house as he walked over to the kitchen, spotting some of the other Septic egos out of their rooms, and quietly made himself a cup of coffee. He was expecting one of them to notice his presence, though he wasn’t quite sure why since it wouldn’t exactly be too surprising to see him in his own home, but no one said a thing. Henrik was at the table with Jackie, both of them eating breakfast, while Marvin was in the living room with a bowl of cereal on his lap. The glitchy ego leaned against the counter, cup in his hand as he took the occasional sip, and everything was quiet.

Well, he supposed this wasn’t too bad, and maybe a quiet day was what he needed.

Except that didn’t last too long as he heard rushed footsteps coming down the stairs, causing the others to turn their heads to look as well. Chase stumbled around the corner and into view only a few seconds later, hair messy with his hat in his hand.

“Hey.” He said when he saw the others, then quickly started searching around the living room. “Any of you seen my skateboard?”

“Mm… I think I remember seeing it under your bed.” Jackie hummed and Chase paused to give the hero an odd look.

“What were you doing looking under my bed?”

“What were you doing hiding my comic books there?”

There was another pause.

“…Alrighty, I’ll go check under the bed then.”

Just as Chase ran back up the stairs, footsteps receding in the distance, the front door of the house opened to let Bing dash inside with a smile. He was holding his own skateboard along with sunglasses resting on the top of his head.

“Hey Bing!” Jackie smiled and stuck his arm out to wave dramatically.

“Hello everyone!” The android grinned and bounded over to the back of the couch to give Marvin a high-five.

The magician leaned his head back to look at the other ego and chuckled.

“You hanging out with Chase today?” He asked and the android nodded.

“Yeah! I learned this super cool new trick and I told Chase I could teach him how to do it too!”

“If he actually knows how to do this trick in the first place.” Chase smirked as he hopped down from the last step of the stairs, returning to the room with his board under his arm.

“C’mon dude, I wouldn’t lie.”

“We’ll just have to see, then, won’t we?”

“Then let’s go!”

“Alright, you two, don’t do anything reckless.” Henrik called out as the two of them dashed over to the front door, though there was a soft laughter at the end of it.

Anti stood silently against the counter, having watched the whole thing, and looked down at the floor below him. He had thought before, when he was at the manor, that he felt out of place there because he wasn’t one of the Ipliers. He thought the same would apply to any of them if they visited the Septic house, but Bing walked in like it was natural and the other Septics greeted him happily.

The glitchy ego set his cup down and his energy felt low. He just… wasn’t the type of person people were happy to see. He didn’t fit in.

So he returned to his room, laying on his bed as he dully looked at his phone.

Huh… it looks like it was going to snow.

 

The days went by almost lifelessly for the green-haired being. Sometimes Dark would send him a message, updating him about the job, and Anti would smile a bit when Wilford would send him something funny, but other than that, everything felt hollow. He didn’t really leave his room much, only occasionally getting something to eat or to pick something up, then he’d return to his room to lay on his bed alone with his thoughts.

He wondered if one of the others might get concerned about him, questioning why he wasn’t in his usual energetic mood, but no one ever came to check on him. They didn’t really do that before, though, but they never had a reason to check on him either. Now there was a reason. Did any of the others even notice?

Sometimes he could hear the others downstairs talking and having fun; sometimes the voice of an Iplier would join them. There would be playful yells, the familiar shouting echoing around the house when someone was arguing about blue shells or friendly fire. Anti knew he wasn’t as sociable as the others, he saw how others were sometimes hesitant around him, sometimes cautious. He’s usually with Dark, though, and the older ego was the same way. But… if he never met Dark… if Dark was never here… then would he have been an outcast all along?

The glitchy ego checked his phone, seeing some posts about snow, and thought it might be nice to see for himself. He doesn’t remember the last time he saw snow and wasn’t too busy to appreciate it. He was sure the others wouldn’t care if he left for a while.

 

Anti smiled to himself after he made what he called a “snow monstrosity” by a ski path he found. He stuck around for a while to watch some of the reactions when people slid by, some yelling at it while others laughed. That managed to lift his spirits for a bit, but soon he found himself wandering the white snowy grounds alone in silence. Night had fallen and the glitchy ego set up a spot in a tree where he could lie down and stare up at the stars. It was a clear night, the other humans already gone to their homes to get out of the cold, and Anti hummed to himself as he watched the small glowing lights move ever so slowly across the sky.

He was alone out here… maybe that’s how it should’ve been… maybe that’s how it should be now.

He stared up at the sky until he felt his eyelids grow heavy, wanting him to go to sleep. His mind felt empty, not much keeping him awake anyways, and sleep overtook him quickly.

The next morning, he stayed laying in the tree for a bit as his skin prickled at the outside air. His muscles already were sore from lying on a hard tree and he didn’t want to move, though he wasn’t sure if that was because of the cold or just not wanting to do much in general. One of the branches was starting to annoy him, poking at his arm, so he glitched down to the ground. He winced as he landed, a sharp pain zipping through him, briefly making him think of how the cold sometimes stung like it was burning. His fingers were stiff so he stuck his hands in his pockets, thinking it wouldn’t be too much of a problem, and started wandering through the trees. He found another ski path and thought about making another snow creation that would top his last one, but he didn’t have much motivation to try it.

He found a spot that seemed to be away from human trails and sat down against a cut down tree trunk. He grabbed a stick and stared at the snow in front of him, drawing loose doodles and random patterns that came to mind. For a while it was fine, but soon he felt his eyes starting to water as he squinted. It was getting difficult for him to see and he paused his doodling to look around, but there was only the whiteness of the snow around him. He stood up from his spot, rubbing his eyes, and tried to find his way back out of his secluded spot, but the longer he spent trying to find his way out, the worse his sight seemed to be.

He put a hand against a tree as he shut his eyes, trying to come up with a plan on what to do, but as soon as he opened his eyes to see his surroundings and try to walk again, he would only see the white that stung his eyes.

He started to panic a bit, never having lost his eyesight like this before, and didn’t realize his phone was buzzing in his pocket as he stumbled forwards.

Should he try to teleport back? But he can’t see. Does he need to be able to see? But last time when he just moved from the tree it hurt.

Damn, why does stuff like this always happen to him?

He tried to use his hand to navigate around the trees, occasionally peeking his eyes open to figure out where everything was as he moved, but everything was starting to blur. His eyes hurt, burning under his eyelids, and he finally noticed that he was shaking from the cold. Without his sight, his other senses started getting hyperaware, sensitive to his surroundings, and his hand would sting as it scraped against the bark of the trees.

He didn’t know what to do and eventually he stopped trying to walk as he dropped onto the ground. He put his back against the nearest tree, finding comfort in having at least something to support himself against. He held his hands in front of himself, feeling them shaking, although he couldn’t see them, and let out a puff of air.

This time he noticed his phone buzzing and he gasped as he remembered he had it. His hands didn’t want to work, fingers chilled and uncomfortable as he tried to get the device from the rough fabric of his pants. The call ended before he was able to get it out of his pocket, only making him feel worse when he couldn’t even see his phone once he had it in his hands. He frowned, sniffling a bit as he fiddled with his phone and tried to remember where the buttons on the screen would be. He couldn’t tell if anything he was doing was working, not knowing what screen was currently being displayed or if the device was even able to recognize his finger on the touch screen since it was so cold.

He accidentally dropped it from his shaking hands, only serving to make him more panicked as he hastily pat the cold ground to find it again. He grabbed it with both hands, holding it close to his chest as he squeezed his eyes shut to stop them from watering more.

Maybe he can use his skills with technology to send a message without needing to see the screen. Maybe he can get some type of signal across.

“Please… please let this w-work.” He whispered under his breath and the phone felt warm in his hands.

He brought his knees up to his chest, phone still against him as well, and he leaned his head down. It’ll be okay. He has to believe that it’ll be okay. He has his phone, someone will call again, he just has to wait-

“Anti.”

Anti snapped his head up, eyes opening in surprise which made them sting before he shut them once more. He recognized that voice, though, and he couldn’t hold back the tears that slid down his cheeks as he shivered in place.

“D-Dark.” He stuttered and his emotions leaked through his usual stubborn front. “Dark, I- I can’t see, I can’t s-see.”

He felt hands suddenly cup his cheeks, warm and familiar, and their foreheads touched.

“It’s okay, I’m here.” Dark murmured softly.

Anti finally let composure fall as he threw his arms around the older ego’s shoulders, holding on tightly, and covered his face to hide his tears against the other. He felt Dark pick up his phone that he had dropped again, then the older ego wrapped his arms around him as well.

“I’m going to take us back to the manor, okay?”

Anti made a weak nod before he felt the familiar sensation of Dark taking them back to the manor through the shadows. He was carried over to the couch, recognizing the cushions as he was set down, and Dark brushed his cheeks once more as he spoke softly.

“I’m going to make you some warm tea, alright?”

The glitchy ego hesitated for a moment, not knowing if he was in any position to request anything, but Dark noticed, as usual.

“Is there something else you want?”

“… hot cocoa?”

“Alright.”

Anti heard as Dark stepped away from him for a moment before there was a blanket suddenly wrapped around him. He snuggled into the soft fabric, rubbing his cheeks with it, and listened to the sounds in the kitchen as Dark made his drink.

Then he felt a dip in the couch as someone sat next to him. He tensed up, not knowing who it was, and part of him was expecting the person to make fun of him in his weak state, but instead he heard a gentle voice.

“Host wants to know if Anti is alright.”

Oh… Host… now that he thinks about it, he hasn’t spent much time with the Host that much.

“Ah… yes. Cold but…” He took a small breath and sniffled. “It’s gonna be fine…”

“That’s good.”

They were both quiet for a bit, both listening to Dark in the kitchen, then Host spoke up again.

“Host knows Anti is having trouble seeing right now. Host wants to reassure that it’ll be okay, the symptoms are temporary, but to also say that sometimes there are positives to it.”

“Positives?”

“If Host can share a secret…” Anti could hear the faint smile in his voice. “It is nice to have people’s condolences.”

It took him a second to understand what he meant, but Anti grinned as he turned his head towards Host, still wanting to face him even if his eyes weren’t open.

“You sly fox, you like having people dote on you.” The glitchy ego smirked.

“Host will not deny that.” He smiled. “However, Anti has something the Host does not. Anti is the only person who Dark will care for in that manner.”

Anti hummed, a part of him glowing at the thought, warming him up like a blanket on the inside, and Dark returned to the living room with a cup in his hands. The older ego took one of Anti’s hands, guiding him towards the cup as he cradled it and took a sip. Dark placed his own hand back on Anti’s left cheek and the younger ego leaned into the touch. Dark was being careful with him, speaking softly. He knew Anti couldn’t handle arguing at times like this.

“You’re cold.” Dark hummed. “You could use a warm bath.”

Anti didn’t respond and instead took another sip of his chocolatey drink, though he nuzzled into the older ego’s hand more.

“Everyone was worried about Anti when he didn’t come out for dinner yesterday.” Host started to explain and the glitchy ego turned his head back towards him. “Everyone noticed that something was different but was worried that Anti would not like being confronted about it.”

Oh, so the others did notice that something was wrong.

“Host told me something was wrong.” Dark continued, thumb rubbing under Anti’s eye. “I made it back this morning and had Google try to track your phone. It was difficult for a while, but he was able to find some type of signal before I left to get you.”

“Oh…” Anti said quietly and used a hand to feel for the end table so he could set his cup down. “Did you finish your job, though…?”

“No, I left the rest of it to Wilford.”

“Oh…” Anti repeated and tilted his head down. “Sorry…”

Dark made a sound as he started to respond, bringing Anti’s head down to rest against his shoulder, but Host cut him off.

“Dark does not want Anti to feel troubled over this; it is alright. Dark loves Anti.”

Anti felt the older ego tense up at that, shoulders stiff, though the glitchy ego was caught off guard at that as well. Neither of them were very expressive about their feelings, let alone with that particular one. That word was hardly even spoken between them.

But Host didn’t lie.

Anti felt his body still shivering from the cold, muscles aching from the night, but even so, he smiled. He leaned back and lifted a hand up to touch Dark’s cheek, fingers brushing lightly against the skin as he trailed them down until he found the older ego’s lips. His touch was light, tracing the other’s bottom lip, then leaned forward to place a gentle kiss against him.

“A bath would be nice.”

He felt Dark relax, smiling softly into the kiss, and they sighed.

“Then let’s get that started.” Dark replied and wrapped his arms around the younger’s waist to lift him up again.

Anti wanted to thank Host for his earlier words, but as Dark carried him up to their room to the connected bathroom there, he realized that the Host probably already knew.

 

The others heard that Anti had returned to the manor and gathered in the living room to see him. He had warmed up completely after the bath and Dark made sure to dress him in comfortable long sleeved pajamas. Both of the doctors visited him in the bedroom before he met with the others, making him sit on the bed as they checked to make sure he would recover properly. Henrik informed him that his sight would return in a day or two, but before then, he should rest his eyes.

“I’ve heard that some people like to put a cool washcloth over their eyes to help with irritation.” Edward added as they finished their checkup. “And then you’ll look like Host.”

“I think I’ll pass.” The glitchy ego huffed.

Dark led him back to the living room, carefully guiding him down the stairs, and he was surprised when he heard the voices of the others. They immediately started asking him if he was okay, wondering what had happened, and he heard shuffling as he guessed they were making room for him on the couch. They would all ask if he needed something, making him something to eat or drink, and they played a movie that he would recognize so he wouldn’t need to see it to know what was happening.

After a while, Anti had the couch to stretch out on, and he lied down on his back with his head resting on Dark’s lap. He ended up wearing a washcloth over his eyes, not thinking much of it as he listened to the movie that was playing while Dark ran a hand through his hair.

Host was right about the whole “being doted on” thing. Especially with Dark. Everyone had checked on him, making sure he was comfortable, and one of them had brought him his own bowl of popcorn during the movie, but when it was time for bed, they had all returned to their rooms for the night and Anti was left alone with the older ego. He cuddled up to Dark, face hidden against the crook of his neck, and held onto him tightly. Anti knew part of it was because he was dependent on the other since he couldn’t see; he felt secure knowing the other ego was with him. However, he also knew this was one of those moments when he just needed a hug.

Dark gave him breakfast in bed the next day, saying something about knowing how he doesn’t want the others to see him try to navigate around blind, but he had lost focus when he found out Dark was letting him eat breakfast on the bed. Where they slept. Because he might get food on it. He’s eaten in there before but not blind and not an actual meal.

Dark was totally doting on him.

His eyesight was better by the end of the next day, though he was still cautious and stayed inside for a while. He thought everything was going to return to normal, back to the way it was before he went out in the snow, and he felt his mood fall. He tried to make himself feel better by telling himself that Dark was home now and he could hang out with the older ego.

He was in the kitchen looking for a snack to bring back to Dark’s room when he heard his name, though, and frowned in confusion, not expecting that. Bing had invited Chase, Marvin, and JJ to come over for video games as Google tried to follow along, explaining patterns and programing, while Host narrated what the character was doing on the screen. There was a lot of excited yelling, taking turns to try to beat the level when one of them lost, and Anti recognized the game as something he had played before at the Septic house. Chase had called him over and he leaned against the back of the couch as he stuck a chip in his mouth.

“We keep losing at this boss level.” Bing frowned dramatically and Anti quirked an eyebrow as he glanced at the screen.

“You guys need to see what Anti does! He figured out how to do this really cool trick with the character and he makes this boss look like an idiot!” Chase exclaimed.

“Woah really?” Bing perked up and the group looked back at him with wide eyes and excited smiles. “Dude, c’mere c’mere, play the level!” The android grinned and waved the controller in his direction.

Anti stared a bit in surprise, looking at each of the others to see genuine enthusiasm. He set his chip bag down and walked around the couch to sit down on the carpet next to Bing and Marvin. The android handed him the controller and he started the level, focusing on the screen as the character dodged attacks and jumped in the air before sending out his own long ranged moves.

He knew about a small glitch in the coding and smirked as he used it to make the character spin and do cool looking stunts, occasionally combining two different combo skills to make the attack even stronger. When he got to the boss level, he easily circled around the enemy and openly mocked him, gaining the support of the others as they yelled at the screen for him. He made the character use his glitched combo, easily crushing the boss, and the others hollered in victory.

“That was awesome!” Bing applauded and Google nodded.

“I told you Anti was great at this!” Chase smiled and the other Septics chuckled with proud expressions.

They were proud of him.

Anti didn’t think that was something the others would do; he didn’t think they would be happy to be with him like this. They were _proud_ of him. He looked over at Host and saw a knowing smile on the ego’s face, telling him all he needed to know as he looked down at the controller in his hands. He passed it on to someone else, staying to watch as they continued on to the next level, and joined in on the yelling as their character barely dodged close attacks and almost ran out of health.

Somewhere in the middle of their gaming, they had all scooted closer together, and as they beat each level, they would throw their arms around one another and cheer. After one of the levels, Bing had an arm around Anti and the two of them swayed back and forth as the end level music congratulated them.

Then it was getting time for dinner and the group turned off the game, though they talked about continuing later. Anti stood up and grabbed his now empty chip bag, taking it to the kitchen to throw it away and planned on going back to Dark’s room where the other ego was currently working, but he was stopped once more when he heard his name again. The others had gathered their things, all standing up and ready to go, and were looking to Anti.

“Hey, we’re gonna go back to our place and make dinner there then watch that new sci-fi movie Henrik got.” Marvin told him.

“Marvin and the others would like it if Anti joined them.” Host added.

They… they wanted Anti to go with them. They were inviting him to hang out with them… just because. He stood dumbfounded for a moment, then smirked as he answered yes and hopped up the stairs to grab something from his shared room. He opened the door to see Dark putting something away on the bookshelf they had in the room. He told the older ego that he was going over to the Septic house with the others for dinner and they were going to watch a movie together. Dark looked over his shoulder at him, taking a moment to finish up with the bookshelf, then stepped over to him. Anti was surprised once more when the older ego kissed his forehead lightly. It was only a brief moment, then Dark returned to his desk to continue with his work, but the glitchy ego understood. He walked up behind the desk chair and snuck his arms over Dark’s shoulders, holding his hands in front of Dark’s neck as he rested his head atop of the black fluff of hair that was combed neatly to the side only to mess it up.

“Love you too.” Anti murmured into the other’s hair, smiling as he leaned back and fluffed the black hair with his hand.

He was the only one who was allowed to do things like this to Dark and he was absolutely going to take advantage of that.

And as he went back downstairs to meet with the others again, he found Host smiling warmly with that knowing look again. Maybe Anti had another Iplier friend after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I got two more requests after this one! I don't know when they'll be posted but if you two are reading this, know I'm still thinking about them and I'll get them posted when I can! Got lots of stuff going on.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this story! I have a weakness for fluffy fluff. In case you guys didn't notice... from all this fluffy fluff. Fluff! I know some people make Dark this uptight almost emotionless leader but I like giving him a heart and making him have a weak spot for Anti. (He gets to yell at Anti in the second request though!)
> 
> [My tumblr :3](https://galaxykitty42.tumblr.com/)


End file.
